It is well known to provide a restraint belt for restraining a vehicle occupant upon a vehicle seat. It is also well known to provide a belt retractor comprised of a belt carriage which traverses a linear track mounted on the vehicle body and a locking mechanism which selectively locks the carriage to the track.
The present invention provides a new and improved linear belt storage and retracting mechanism for extending and retracting a belt and locking the belt at a fixed length in response to the sensed occurrence of a predetermined magnitude of vehicle deceleration, or of belt acceleration in the belt unwinding direction.